Containers and methods for their manufacture



D 1 1970 s. I. ANDERSSON i 3,547,722

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CONTAINERS A ND METHODS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE Original Filed Manna, 1967u I e Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 15, 1970 s. l. ANDERSSON 3,547,722

CONTAINERS AND METHODS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE Original Filed Mardh 13,1967 v s Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 15, 1970 "Isl LANDERQSSON 3,547,722

CONTAINERS AND METHODS. FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE Original Filed March 13;1967 s Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 15, 1970 s l. ANDERSSON 3,

CONTAINERS AND METHODS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE Original Filed March is,1967 a Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 15; 1970 5.1. ANDERSSON 3,547,722

CONTAINERS AND METHODS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE OriginalFiledMarch '13,1967 a Sheets-Sheet e United States Patent 3,547,722 CONTAINERS ANDMETHODS FOR 1 THEIR MANUFACTURE Sven lngemar Andersson, Ystad, Sweden,assignor to A. B. Akerlund & Rausing, Lund, Sweden, a Swedishjoint-stock company Original application Mar. 13, 1967, Ser. No.622,766, now Patent No. 3,489,331, dated Jan. 13, 1970. Divided and thisapplication Feb. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 813,378 Claims priority, applicationSweden, Mar. 21, 1966; 3,694/66; Mar. 8, 1967, 3,169/67 Int. Cl. B31f1/00 US. Cl. 156196 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container forpackaging purposes having an internal protective layer which is unitedwith the container at the erection thereof and in the erected state ofthe container freely extends between the adjacent :but slightly spacedside wall edges of the container.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 622,766 filed Mar. 13, 1967,now U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,331.

This invention relates to a container having a bottom, a number of sidewalls that are adjacent in the corner regions and make an angle withsaid bottom and with each other, and an inner protective layer.

It is previously known to deep-draw containers, for example forpackaging purposes, or cups from thermoplastic sheet material. It isalso know to provide a preformed container or cup with a protectivelayer that is united with the container. For economical and practicalreasons it has not been possible to provide containers of this type withsuitable decorative and/ or informative print.

In accordance with the invention, the corner regions are formed by theinner protective layer which extends from side wall to side wall andwhich in said corner regions keeps the container side walls togetherwhich in said regions substantially lie in adjacent edge-to-edgerelationship. By this arrangement the panels of a carton blank which areto form the container side walls can be provided with the desired simpleor complicated print prior to the erection of the container. Due to theabsence of glue flaps the container is readily erected.

The above and further features of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description in which reference is made to theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a developed plan View of a carton blank and a protective sheetfor a container, with the protective sheet placed on top of the cartonblank;

FIG. 2 is a developed plan view of another carton blank and protectivesheet, with said sheet placed on top of the carton blank;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a container made from the blank andsheet in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section on line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a developed plan view of a modified carton blank;

FIG. 6 is a developed plan view of still another modified carton blank;

FIG. 7 is a section of a container made from the carton blank in FIG. 5and a protective sheet;

FIG. 8 is a perspective veiw of a container made from the carton blankin FIG. 6 and a protective sheet;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary perspective view, as seen from below, of theouter side of a corner of the container in a modified embodiment of saidcorner;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view, as seen from below, of theouter side of a corner of the container in a further modified embodimentof said corner;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view, as seen from above, of a corner of amodified container;

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic exemplifying view of a mould used for erectingthe container;

FIG. 13 is a section of a corner region in a modified container.

In FIG. 1 of the'drawings is shown a conventionally punched coplanarblank 1 of carton having panels which in the finished container are toform the bottom 2 and side walls 3, 4 thereof. The side walls 3, 4 arehinged to the bottom 2 by means of crease lines 5. FIG. 1 also shows aprotective sheet 6 which is loosely placed on top of the blank 1, saidblank 1 and said protective sheet 6 being shown in the relativepositions they will broadly occupy when they have been brought togetherto form said container but before the latter is erected into finishedstate and the protective sheet 6 is united with the container to form aproective layer within it. The protective sheet 6 is of tensile,preferably thermoplastic material which can be brought to adhere to theblank 1 by application of heat, in which case the protective sheet 6 ispressure-sensitive. However, to ensure a satisfactory connection betweenthe carton blank 1 and the protective sheet 6 either the carton blank orthe protective sheet is provided with a thermoplastic binder on the faceto be united "with the protective sheet and the carton blank 1,respectively. In FIG. 1, the said face is the upwardly facing surface ofthe blank 1. The thermoplastic binder can be caused to connect the blank1 and the protective sheet 6 intimately together, by application ofheat.

Punching of the blank 1 is carried out in the conventional manner sothat the side walls 3, 4 in the finished container formed from theerected blank will substantially be in adjacent edge-to-edgerelationship. After the punching operation the blank 1 is broughtogether with the protective sheet 6, as is shown in FIG. 1, whereuponthe two blanks 1, 6 are placed on the mould 7 in FIG. 12 which isconnected over pipes 8 to a vacuum source 9. The pipes 8 are connectedwith the mould cavity 12 via holes 10 in the bottom 11 of the mould 7.Mounted at the outer side of the mould 7 are electric heating elements13 by which the mould 7 can be heated to a temperature suitable toplastize the thermoplastic binder on the blank 1 or the protective sheet6. The mould 7 also also has clamping means 14 with the air of which thesheet 6 is clamped when said sheet 6 and the blank 1 are placed on themould 7. The connection between the mould cavity 12 and the vacuumsource 9 permits sucking the blank 1 into said cavity 12 at the sametime as the protective sheet 6 is sucked into the blank 1 being erectedor already erected. The time sequence may be chosen in such a way thatthe blank 1 is first erected and slightly heated, or is mechanicallyforced a distance into the mould before the protective sheet 6 is suckedinto, stretched and glued in the thus-erected container by means of thelayer of binder heated by the mould so that it is plasticized or madetacky. After withdrawal from the mould 7 the container has theappearance shown in FIG. 3. In addition to serving as a protection forthe container content, the protective sheet 6 will keep the containerand the side walls 3 and 4 thereof together, fixing the container in theerected position. In the erected container the protective sheet 6 coversthe gaps 15 (FIG. 4) between the side walls 3 and 4 which aresubstantially in adjacent edge-to-edge relationship. Of course, theprotective sheet 6 also extends continuously and uninterruptedly overthe areas formed by the crease lines 5 between the bottom 2 and the sidewalls 3, 4 of the container. It is also possible to use air underpressure to urge 3 both the blank 1 and the protective sheet 6 into themould cavity 12. a

A protective sheet 16 approximately of the same size as the blank 1 isshown in FIG. 2. Such coincident size is preferably chosen 'when theblank 1 and the protective sheet 16 are sucked and/ or forced into themould 7 at one and the sarne'time, whereby some portions of theprotective sheet are stretched close to the bottom 2 of the container,while other portions of said sheet are contracted in proximity of thecontainer rim 17.

In the modification shown in FIG. the carton blank 1 has a panel whichis to form the bottom 18 of the container, and a number of panels whichare to form the side walls 19 of the container. The bottom 18 has freearcuate marginal regions 20 extending between the side wa ls 19. Whenthe blank 1 is erected in a conforming mould (FIG. 12) with roundedcorners, and the protective sheet 6 is drawn and/or forced down into theerected container and caused to adhere thereto, those portions 22 of theprotective layer in the finished container shown in FIG. 7 that extendfreely in the corner regions between the adjacent side 'walls 19 andbridge the interstices 21 therebetween will have an arcuate crosssection and mutually interconnect the side walls 19. The latter are thuskept together only by their union with the inner protective containerlayer formed by the protective sheet 6.

In the containers shown in FIGS. 1-4 the protective layer portions inthe gaps 15 between the adjacent flat side walls lie at or in immediateproximity of an assumed point of intersection between the main planes ofthe side walls 3 and 4. In the containers shown in FIG. 510 theprotective layer portions 22 bridging the interstices 21 between theside 'walls 19 are slightly spaced from said point of intersection. Forreasons of clarity the main planes A of the side walls are shown merelyby dash and dot lines in FIG. 7, the point of intersection beingdesignated B.

In the blank 1 shown in FIG. 6 tongues 26 are hinged to the free edges24 of the bottom 23 in the corner regions between the side walls 25 bycrease lines coinciding with said edges 24. In the erected container,FIG. 8, said tongues 26 reach some distance up on the outer sides of,and is connected to, theprotective layer portions 27 in the cornerregions. Said tongues 26 reinforce the exposed lower parts of theprotective sheet portions 27.

To prevent the containers, when kept stored in stacks, from jamming ineach other by wedging action the exposed protective layer portions ne-arthe rim 28 of the container (FIG. 9) may be provided with an outwardlydirected boss 29 formed at the erection of the container, see FIG. 8, 9and 10'. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 the boss 29 is disposed at apoint between the edges 30 of the adjacent side walls 25. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 10 the boss 31 extends from the edge 20 of oneside wall 25. The bosses 31 reinforce the protective layer portion 27 Astraight protective layer portion 32 is shown in FIG. 11.

In the corner region shown in FIG. 13 of a modification of thecontainer, one side wall 3 slightly overlaps the edge of the other sidewall 4 in the same corner re-- which are substantially What I claim anddesire to secure by letters Patent is: 1. A method of manufacturing acontainer which Comprises the steps of applying a thermoplastic binderto the inner bottom and side wall faces of a carton blank, positioning aprotective layer sheet in contact with the bottom and side wall faces ofsaid carton blank on the side having the thermoplastic binder appliedthereto, erecting the container while maintaining the faces of thecarton blank in contact with said protective layer sheet, and activatingthe thermoplastic binder. 2. A method of manufacturing a container whichcomprises the steps of applying a thermoplastic binder to a protectivelayer sheet, positioning said protective layer sheet in contact withinner bottom and'side wall faces of a carton blank, erecting thecontainer while maintaining the faces of said carton blank in contactwith said protective layer sheet, I and activating the thermoplasticbinder. 3. A method of manufacturing a container which comprises thesteps of applying a thermoplastic binder to the inner bottom and sidewall faces of a cartonblank, positioning the carton blank in a mold withthe side wall panels arranged in a loose unglued relationship in respectto each other,

clamping a thermoplastic sheet above the mouth of the mold,

heating the thermoplastic sheet,

drawing and forcing said thermoplastic sheet down into the looselyerected cartonjblank into adherence therewith,

and removing the container from the mold, the side Walls of the cartonblank being held together by the thermoplastic sheet and theintermediate thermoplastic binder.

4. A method of manufacturing a container which comprises the steps oferecting a carton blank in a mold with side wall panels arrangedsubstantially in edge to edge relationship,

heating a thermoplastid sheet,

drawing and forcing said thermoplastic sheet down into the erectedcarton blank into adherence therewith,

and further comprising the steps of applying a thermoplastic binder tothe inner faces of the sides and bottom of the carton blank,

and heating the inner side and bottom faces of the carton to activatesaid thermoplastic binder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,736,065 2/1956 Wilcox 156-1602,8 0 8, 192 10 19 5 7 Raisin 2293 1 3,191,508 6/1965 Beamish 156217X3,398,658 8/1968 Jonson.

SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

